Braids make a double play, Kamiyada+ does the devil’s work, Andrew Hung shares his personal space, Annabelle Chvostek knows how many it takes to tango — and you’ve still got gems from Charley Crockett, Jont, Les Filles de Illighadad and plenty more to come in your Midweek Roundup. Is it too early for a beer? I think not.
23+24 | Braids | Slayer Moon + 2020
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Braids reveal two new songs titled Slayer Moon and 2020, recorded during the sessions of their last album Shadow Offering. “Slayer Moon is inspired by a Sailor Moon phone case I bought in Tokyo at 3 a.m. while on tour in Japan. Growing up, I was obsessed with Sailor Moon, particularly with the ability to magically transform from a normal girl into a full-on mystical and powerful Sailor Scout, battle-ready to combat the evil forces of the world … 2020 was written sometime in 2017, after a long period of being alone — in an abstract sense of the word — while reaching for fleeting physical closeness. I was with friends, but my heart was lonely and longing for companionship, my body confused with the unfamiliarity of new and shallow encounters.”
25 | Kamiyada+ | U Made The Devil Cry
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Kamiyada+ has released the single and video for U Made The Devil Cry. “U Made The Devil Cry captures a look at death,” explains Kamiyada+. “In some cases intentional/accidental from a viewpoint so saddening that even the devil himself couldn’t bare it.” The stage name of Jovani Duncan, Kamiyada+ swirls vast and varied influences into a bludgeoning, genre-less sound that’s all at once modern and progressive. “I’m into darker shit,” proclaims Duncan, “I want to use darkness to tell cool stories.”
26 | Andrew Hung | Space
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Artist and musician Andrew Hung returns with a video for his single Space from his album Devastations, due out June 18. As co-founder of the highly influential noise-electronic duo, Fuck Buttons, Hung’s work has brought about three critically acclaimed albums as well as seeing him tour extensively. Space combines shimmering and volatile electronic elements with a tense and emphatic vocal, Hung experiments and knowingly toys with the balance between uplift, chaos and sanguine hope. Hung says: “Space is about the fabric that connects us all i.e., space. We won’t find perfection in individual elements, but we can find perfection in the space that connects us and the outer edges of the known universe and beyond.”
27 | Annabelle Chvostek | Come Back
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Juno-nominated singer-songwriter and producer Annabelle Chvostek shares her latest video and single Come Back, from her album String of Pearls out this Friday. Come Back is inspired by Uruguay’s tango revival movement, where a century-old musical tradition is paired with contemporary thematic and slang. The lyrics are written like the internal monologue of a person oversaturated with social media and the 24-hour news cycle. It’s full of humorous references like the online barter group Bunz Trading Zone and once-ubiquitous fads like tiny houses and paleo diets. Musically, it is classic Uruguayan tango — “the rock ’n’ roll of the ’30s”, as co-producer Fernando Rosa puts it. Two acoustic guitars, bandoneon, bass and voice; this is perhaps the most colourful example of the album’s cross-cultural nature.”
28 | Medea Project | Fear
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Fear is the new video from The Medea Project, recorded live in the studio as part of a special set that the band performed on-line in January. It features on their upcoming EP Southern Echoes. The EP a unique package, featuring the band’s entire Metal4Africa set, a revealing cover version and an in depth podcast discussing the individual nature of the South African underground music scene where The Medea Project were born.”
29 | Nicholas Krgovich | Plants
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nicholas Krgovich announces new album This Spring, out May 21. A touching tribute to one of Nicholas’s dear friends and mentors, Canadian singer-songwriter Veda Hille, the album features 15 Veda tracks beautifully reimagined and performed by Nic, and a track performed by Veda herself. Ahead of the release, stream Plants (featuring M. Sage, Joseph Shabason and Joe Carvell). Says Nicholas: “I’ve loved this song since the first time I heard it. Way back in 2000, the year I graduated high school. I remember Veda had a listening party in her living room and I got an invite. This random 17 year old in a sea of what, to me, seemed like grown ups. Everyone crammed in that room was probably a lot younger than I am now, and I still barely feel like an adult except when I’m in the grocery store and some mom says to her wandering toddler ‘Don’t get in the way of that man’ as I’m bending down to inspect a can of crushed tomatoes.”
30 | Before We Fall | Healed By Fear
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Budapest metal band Before We Fall have released the single and video Healed by Fear, the title track from their EP set to release on April 30. The band comment: “Our new EP Healed by Fear contains three songs revolving around the topic of finding a way inside to our real self. For the title song we’ve made a video, where the original intention was to create a cold and eerie atmosphere with which we can reach the state of mind in where we can reveal and overcome our true self, fears and darkest emotions.”
31 | Charley Crockett | Midnight Run
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Charley Crockett released his latest album Lil G.L. Presents: 10 For Slim – Charley Crockett Sings James Hand at the end of February. The album is Charley’s tribute to his late friend James “Slim” Hand (Willie Nelson called him “the real deal”). Before James passed away in June 2020, Crockett made a promise to his friend that he would record his songs. As Crockett says in a heartfelt letter he penned about Hand and 10 For Slim, “if you listen to his writing style and the portraits he painted in his music, or that plaintive one of a kind voice he had, then you know he was without equal in our time.”
32 | Jont | Birtwatching
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Halifax singer-songwriter Jont released a video for the song Birdwatching — a sumptuous, visual feast directed by Cape Breton’s Matt Ingraham set in the stunning landscape of his homeland. It is the seventh and final video release from Jont’s timely, life-enhancing and effervescent album, Thank You For The Medicine. “Love instils the sublime warmth of the song,” says Jont. “But one senses it is an over-arching love rather than a romantic love, the kind that melts this solid world of obstruction and anxiety, and that returns us to the garden, to the Avalon of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.”
33 | Cannibal Corpse | Murderous Rampage
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On April 16, Cannibal Corpse will release their 15th studio album Violence Unimagined. For a preview, the new single Murderous Rampage can be heard now. Violence Unimagined is state of the art death metal played with passion and breathless precision, making for another flawless addition to what is inarguably one of the premier catalogues the genre has thrown up. “It really follows the path we’ve been going down for a few years now,” states bassist and founding member Alex Webster. “I think we approach the writing in a similar way most every time: each of us try to write the heaviest, most memorable songs we can. We want each song to have its own identifiable character. Showing my age, I like to say you can ‘drop the needle’ on any point of one of our albums and quickly tell which song you’re listening to.”
34 | Hurricane On Saturn | Outsider
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Hurricane On Saturn is a new project launched in 2019 by Italian musicians Dakm, Maydx, Antares, Rastaban and Marakk. Their sounds is based on a unique use of electronics combined with rock, rap, post-hardcore and crossover influences. They released their first album Killing Field in November. Now they unleash Outsider.”
35 | Soda Blonde | Small Talk
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The debut album from Soda Blonde is called Small Talk, but if there’s one thing the Dubliners do not do, it’s mince words. Out July 9, the self-produced album sees the group reflecting on their 20-something experiences with refreshingly honest transparency. “To put it simply, Small Talk is about life in our 20s,” says frontwoman Faye O’Rourke. “Every part of us is in here, both subliminally and literally. Lyrically, this record is like a collection of my flaws and insecurities. They’re lingering awkwardly by the bar at a crowded social gathering, waiting to integrate with the wider world.”
36 | Les Filles de Illighadad | Surbajo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The third album from Tuareg avant-rock group Les Filles de Illighadad, At Pioneer Works, comes out May 28. It was recorded over two sold-out 2019 shows in Brooklynat the tail end of two years of nonstop touring in support of the band’s 2017 album Eghass Malan. Les Filles de Illighadad’s music draws from two distinct styles of regional sound, ancient village choral chants and desert guitar. The result is a groundbreaking new direction for Tuareg folk music and a sound that resonates far outside of their village. In the past years, the band has toured nonstop, bringing their highly specific sound to distant corners of the globe.”
37 | Juliana | Burn (Nick Brago Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Pop singer and songwriter Juliana has released a remix version of her electro-pop single Burn from Italian producer Nick Brago. Originally released in the fall, Burn was written after a bout of depression and served as a breakthrough moment for the L.A. artist in both her mental health and songwriting. “Ever since Burn came out in October 2020, I’ve been eager to release a remix for it since the song holds a lot of emotional weight for me,” shares Juliana. “My friend Nick Brago reached out after hearing the original version and asked to remix it. It was a no-brainer since he’s extremely talented. This remake uses a lot of strings to help emphasize each lyric and express the meaning behind the song. It also has an energetic electronic drop to showcase the dramatic power behind the words.”
38 | Songs Of Petrichor | Nomad
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Saudi Arabia’s progressive grunge rock trio Songs Of Petrichor are releasing their debut single Nomad to preview to their self-titled album coming in November. A nostalgic, melancholic revival of ’70s prog, ’90s grunge and South Asian classical music, Songs Of Petrichor fuse a refreshing sound from the Middle East. They say: “Nomad was inspired by our drummer Omair’s thoughts of not belonging anywhere and constantly moving on. The song is open to interpretation as either a narrative of a literal ‘nomad’ or as a metaphor of one whose journey is akin to that of a nomad.”
39 | Metronomy | The Look (MGMT Remix)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Ahead of the April 30 release of the 10th anniversary reissue of their career-changing album The English Riviera, Metronomy share a new version of their iconic track The Look, remixed by Grammy-nominated duo MGMT, producers of some of the most innovative psychedelic pop anthems of the 2000s. About The Look, Joseph Mount says: “I still don’t know precisely what that something is, but when we perform The Look live and I hear thousands of people chanting the bit that gets stuck in your head back at me, der-de-der-der, it often brings a tear to my eye. It really is amazing what that seaside song and this whole album has done for Metronomy.”
40 | ViVii | Read Between
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish dream-pop trio ViVii announced their new album Mondays (out May 21) and shared the single Read Between. It continues the band’s bold and uplifting aesthetic with this warm and breezy new groove. Capturing more of that smooth yet progressive direction they have shown throughout these comeback releases, their latest effort shows us just how engaging and captivating they are planning to make this new record. They say, “Mondays have always left a bad taste in our mouths as we grew up. So by meeting up every Monday in our studio and making music we made that day the best day of the week, maybe trying to rewrite the past in a way. Entering the studio doors equals a safe zone, where everything feels possible and no rules have to be followed in any shape or form. So Monday after Monday passed and all of a sudden we had an album ready to share.”
41 | Best Move | A Phrase
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Sacramento trio of Kris Anaya, Joseph Davancens and Fernando Oliva formed Best Move in 2019. Anaya and Davancens, the primary songwriters of the group, have spent the better part of the past decade playing a wide variety of music under various banners. They are now set to release its debut, The Mirror Image Twins EP, on May 7. Guitars strum and piano twinkles while a layer of manipulated or synthesized instruments spread a hazy overtone on top of it all. Lyrically, the standards prevail — love, loss, friendship, searching for purpose — but the themes bubble under the surface of a sea of metaphor, leaving the listener to decipher the message in their own way.”
42 | Riley Michaels | One More Heartbreak
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Riley Michaels’ new music evokes the vibe of driving down the highway with the roof of your car open, a day at the beach, or even a dance club. Others offer intimate feelings that listeners will connect with on a deeper level. Produced by Andre Kaden Black and Tal Vaisman, One More Heartbreak is largely about taking care of yourself. Sometimes, we can be doormats to the people in our lives. After too long of living like that, we need to feel some sense of relief. In the case of this song, it is about realizing that the relationship that you have with someone is coming to an end — and it’s going to end badly.”
43 | Rexxx | I Can’t Help It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Members of Milwaukee bands like Sex Scenes, NO/NO, Surgeons in Heat, Saebra & Carlyle and King Eye & the Squirts formed Rexxx over beers and a late ’70s-early ’80s power pop soundtrack. Their debut album was released digitally last year to local acclaim, but Covid put their tour plans on halt, so the rest of the nation really didn’t get to experience the band in all their glory. To that end, Pure Pleasure II gets the vinyl treatment on May 7. You can listen to the single I Can’t Help It now.”
44 | Elijah Joel | Naö
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “”I’m from Virgina. Been trying to make music for several years now, but this is my first actual release. I’ve always sort of been singing my whole life, but only been playing keyboard and working with strings, piano and such for close to two years. At the time I wrote this piece, it was all acoustic guitar and vocals, but I rearranged into an orchestral piece and its become very different. The track was inspired by a girl from Japan I fell very much in love with; I wrote this for her three years ago. I flew to Japan to meet her. Sadly I never heard from her again after leaving. I have no other way to reach her than through music, so I hope somehow she’ll hear this goofy love song and I can find her again. Like a silly fairy tale haha.”
